 Mr. Fix-It and I and our little dog, Ellie (the Tin Man and Cowardly Lion weren’t available) followed the Yellow-Lined Road called I-35 to the breadbasket part of our state, Alva, Oklahoma, to see the son’s new digs. It was a sobering trip as acre after acre after acre of dry, parched farmland spread out as far as the eye could see. Brown and yellow with touches of green are the colors that painted the entire expanse. Lines of green trees spotted with yellowing leaves acted as windbreakers. Ponds had been reduced to half depths of green, brackish water and creeks and streams were simply dry beds. This is where much of Oklahoma’s wheat, corn, milo and canola are produced and this year has been rough. The wheat harvest in Oklahoma was 38% below 2010 numbers while the Texas harvest, just across the state line, was 63% below normal. Corn has not been much better. Oklahoma is over 11″ of rain behind normal, while Texas is as much as 25″ below normal. People are starting to talk of the Dust Bowl days and yesterday Oklahomans across the state prayed for relief at the request of our governor. Yesterday, it was 106º in Alva with 28% humidity. The amazing thing for me, on this trip, was finding that while I thought our area around Oklahoma City was so drought stricken, it is actually quite green compared to western Oklahoma. It is disheartening to know how much higher food prices are going to go because of the shortage of grains. Not good for Americans who are already struggling with food budgets and even worse for countries that depend totally on imported grains for survival. A shortage of grain impacts just about every foodstuff, including meat, but a shortage of water makes it even worse. Ranchers all over Texas and Oklahoma are selling off hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep because there is just not enough water or grass to feed them. This will have a long term impact on the price of meat in the supermarket. But back to our trip – in spite of the water and heat problems, northwestern Oklahoma has a beauty all its own. I spent my time taking pictures so that I could share that part of my state with you. Traveling to the western part of Oklahoma makes one feel like one should be riding in a 1940’s Chevy truck. It is a step back in time with all the trimmings of today’s technology. Alva is no different. It is a lovely town with lovely people and the slow-moving pace of yesteryear. It is made up of the kind of people who suffered throught the drought, heat and dust of the Depression. Homes from the early 1900’s are scattered among homes of the 1940’s and 1950’s while huge, newer homes dot the outskirts. It is a small town but has those essentials of Walmart, Pizza Hut, Sonic and McDonalds! It has to because Alva is also home to Northwestern Oklahoma State University, a wonderful state secret. This university is near and dear to our hearts as two of our progeny graduated this school. A daughter even represeted NWOSU at Miss Oklahoma! The beautiful campus, caring professors and administration, mixed with the atmosphere of the kind of university my parents and grandparents remember, amazing scholarships and reasonable tuition makes this our favorite state institution of learning.  And so, put on your overalls and follow me to Western Oklahoma in pictures.  Along highway 11, grain bins dot the horizon and even crowd the street corners of tiny towns.  Cars of yesteryear parked on Hwy 11 near Numa  All across the prairie/farm landscape are dunes of sand covered in grass. These dunes were created by millions of tons of sand and dirt removed and relocated during the horrible years of the Dust Bowl. If you are interested, there is an amazing book written by Timothy Egan called, The Worst Hard Time. True stories and stunning photographs take you to the realities of those midwestern people of the Depression who suffered through drought, extreme heat and cold with dust storms that infiltrated every nook and cranny of their lives.  The Great Salt Plains just outside of Alva is an international attraction. It gets its name from the salt crystals that cover the ground, leaving an almost ‘snowy’ landscape. The site of much history, Native American tribes fought each other for control of this landscape as it was a huge attraction for wild buffalo and deer seeking the salt.  The area of salted sand is exactly 11,000 acres and the salt is continually replenished by saline groundwater that flows just a few feet underground. When the water evaporates, a layer of salt covers the surface. This also forms the unusual Selenite crystals that are hunted by visitors. We have a boxful from previous trips   Ellie’s “do” was showing that “windblown” look in the stout Oklahoma breeze at the Great Salt Plains. Note: Ellie was a “dump” dog. We figure a puppy mill dumped her at 12 weeks old because she has a terrible overbite and shouldn’t be bred. Their loss!! She’s a hoot.   On down the highway and getting closer to Alva, the traveler will find a fenced off area on the south side of the road with an artesian well pumping thousands of gallons of mineral water a minute. Health concious people from all over bring water jugs to fill with the crystal clear water. And for those who like Watercress sandwiches, there is a hearty crop floating in the pond made by the running water. This place is a green oasis due to the underground springs.  Many of the farmers in Western Oklahoma are using practices that reduce the chances of a dust bowl happening again. Using ‘No Till” farming, they plant rows of a new crop in the stubble of the previous crop without turning and exposing the dirt. This new crop of soybeans is pretty and green, but if you notice the grasses in the foreground, I am wondering how long they will stay that way. We saw no irrigation going on.  An antique Chevy? I suppose you could say it literally got “driven into the dirt”?  Coming into the town of Alva, many of the buildings and homes have a Swedish and German look to them due to the influence of the large number of immigrant families who settled the area. Also, Alva was home to a WWII prison camp for German war prisoners. Many of them loved the area so much that they stayed and made Alva their home after the war.  Drilling new oil wells in and around the town and in the entire area, is nothing unusual. Western Oklahoma is rich in the black stuff and is also a huge producer of natural gas.  We buzzed by the university  Alva has a beautiful little airport with concrete runways – no grass strips there! – a terminal and rows of hangars for housing small airplanes. It is also home to Vantage Plane Plastics, a world leader in the production and installation of aircraft interiors. That is where our son is employed and so aviation has become an important part of our lives! Vantage has small planes fly in from all over the world to this little town for service.  Of course, the son had to show us the plane that he is flying as he finishes up the requirements for a pilot’s license.   I got a chuckle out of the various decals I noticed decorating several of the planes. At least there weren’t any naked women!! Good boy.  It was a pleasant trip on a hot, dry weekend, and it was wonderful. Northwestern Oklahoma has an appeal and a beauty that is unique. Jump in your car and make a visit! |
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Posts Tagged ‘wheat’
Breadbasket Country
Monday, July 18th, 2011
Grinding Corn
Friday, March 25th, 2011
 It doesn’t take much to thrill me. I’m one of those people who appreciates the little thngs in life! For probably 12 years, I’ve been grinding wheat to make our breads and other flour products and it’s been grand. I started out with a hand grinder – a Lil Ark – that has large, stone burrs to grind the grain. You’ve heard of stone ground meal, I’m sure. Well, we don’t have a watermill, but we still have the stone ground flour!  Mr. Fix-It, ever the mechanical genius, watched as I rotated ’round and ’round with the handle to the mill to get about 2 cups of flour for 20 minutes of work. Good exercise, but rather boring. He knew he could get a motor to do the work for me and so he promptly set out to do just that. Two fly-wheels, a couple of auto belts, some pine and an old trash compacter motor later and Mr. Fix-It had indeed fixed it! It isn’t much to look at, but by jove, it does an incredible job. It stays in the garage because it is huge and kinda messy.  And then I graduated. I got a Nutrimill…the grinder of electric grinders. What took my Lil Ark an hour to accomplish, the Nutrimill does in 10 minutes. All the more flour to bake with, my dear! These grinders can be found at a number of places online and they are sooooo worth it. Some online sources include:
 So all of this time, I’ve been making breads and such with wheat flour, but it never occurred to me to purchase corn and do my own cornmeal. Duh. Well, today ended that bit of ignorance. I purchased a sack of corn from Sonrise Whole Grains in Midwest City, and came home to experiment. I used both grinders and combined the results. The Nutrimill grinds the corn pretty fine, which is great for coating fish, while the Lil Ark makes a more grainy meal, which is good for cornbread. But together, it makes a-maize-ing cornbread.  As a result, for dinner tonight, I made cornbread by my recipe posted previously and served that with some home canned beef stew. Now THAT’S livin’! |
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